The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has responded to the Supreme Court ruling in the so-called Arthrex case, which affects how the agency will handle inter partes reviews (IPR) decided by administrative patent judges (APJs). PTO said litigants to IPRs can request a review by the director of the agency only in limited circumstances, however, potentially limiting litigants to one administrative path following an unfavorable IPR outcome.
In a split decision delivered June 21, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved the dilemma created by the constitutional non-reviewability of decisions rendered by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The Supreme Court’s solution is to make those PTAB decisions reviewable by the director of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), although the PTO director’s discretion regarding which PTAB cases should be reviewed may itself prove highly controversial in the months and years to come.
The Supreme Court heard the case of Minerva Surgical Inc. v. Hologic Inc., which takes up the question of assignor estoppel for patents, but the discussions that peppered the April 21 hearing lent little clarity as to how the nine justices will decide the case.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: COVID-19 inventions included in USPTO awards program; First thrombosis incident reported in Australia; FDA revises Moderna EUA; GAO refuses to reconsider VA challenge.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: FDA seeks nominations for blood products advisory panel; Massachusetts hospital hit for HIPAA access non-compliance; No reports recorded for Medtronic recall; Tillis, Cotton eye patent examiner practice for Section 101 problem.
Roughly four years after Intuitive Surgical Inc. petitioned for an inter partes review for a patent owned by Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding that the first 14 claims in Ethicon’s 9,585,658 patent are invalid. While the fate of two other claims are still up in the air pending remand to the PTAB, the net effect of the hearing was significantly damaging to an Ethicon patent for surgical staplers that has been in place for only four years.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: Stimulus passes, no Medicare sequestration relief; OIG cites improper claims for polysomnography; Four senators seek feedback on Section 101 hangup.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: Neovasc snares second patent term extension; CMS drops CT image quality proposal; TGA opens docket for nanomaterials regulation; ATA supports OIG statement on telehealth.
The problem of patent subject matter eligibility is still a nightmare for companies in the diagnostics space, but patent attorney Michael Borella said this is still an issue for software as well. Borella said there are three characteristics that should be considered while drafting patent claims – specificity, technical character and novelty – to arrive at a reasonable assurance that that the key claims in a patent application will survive a challenge in hazardous legal environs, such as the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: Task force gives CAS screening another thumbs down; USPTO expands program with Japan’s, South Korea’s patent offices; Boston Sci recalls electrode for ICD due to risk of fracture; CDSCO posts lists of approved tests.
